Felgraf:Because he can't be everywhere at once: Even if he tried to save everyone, always, forever, he would fail. In some ways, I see the writer job as, in some ways, a way to keep him from going nuts.

We're kind of off into a tangent about the nature of morality, but on some level, a character that can fly at some sizable fraction of light speed and has senses that amount of local omniscience is through inaction allowing a tremendous amount of suffering and evil to take place while he's off making puppy dog eyes with Lois or Lana or Luna or whomever. Clearly, he's drawing a line someplace and saying that he's not going to rip off his shirt for anything less than some presumed threshold of suffering, but everything up to that point is A-OK so long as he can shoot Kryptonian Man-Jam all up in our alliteratively named ladies. And he's the one who makes the judgment call, absent any factors besides what Ma and Pa Kent done taught him.

So Superman is benevolent enough to get a kitty out of a tree, but if he hears non-consensual sex three blocks away or notices a parent beating their kid with his X-ray vision, that's not his deal? Does he stop a schoolyard bully? What about the possibly justifiable school shooting that happens in response? Does he turn a blind eye to gay bashing because Pa Kent had a bad night on shore leave in Bangkok?

That's not to say that morality is somehow absolute, but in effectively acting as a sort of local deity, he has to assume a corresponding level of responsibility even for the things that he allowed to happen through inaction. That's just the law of super heroes.

likefunbutnot:That's not to say that morality is somehow absolute, but in effectively acting as a sort of local deity, he has to assume a corresponding level of responsibility even for the things that he allowed to happen through inaction. That's just the law of super heroes.

That why we would have been better off with Zod and his crew (I'm talking about the movie here, I don't read Superman). After they took over the White House, they didn't really bother anybody. They'd probably fly around the world killing off the psycho tyrants we want to but can't and they wouldn't put up with any terrorism shiat.

Mugato:OhioKnight: I always saw this as the hook for the Batman Superman relationship... "If I had your powers I could eliminate all organized crime on the East Coast in a week -- and you spend your time writing a syndicated column"

Heh. Is that an actual quote? Because it could be.

I always thought the same thing. WTF is he doing dicking around a newspaper office? Like Jor'el told him, "With great power comes great responsibility".

OhioKnight:I always saw this as the hook for the Batman Superman relationship... "If I had your powers I could eliminate all organized crime on the East Coast in a week -- and you spend your time writing a syndicated column"

Heh. Is that an actual quote? Because it could be.

I always thought the same thing. WTF is he doing dicking around a newspaper office? Like Jor'el told him, "With great power comes great responsibility".

No, I can't, because I can't accept that a character with his set of powers and supposed moral rectitude would choose to do anything but act as a superhero full time instead of trying to plant his seed in our Earth Women and hang out at the water cooler with Perry and Jimmy.

I always saw this as the hook for the Batman Superman relationship... "If I had your powers I could eliminate all organized crime on the East Coast in a week -- and you spend your time writing a syndicated column"

No, I can't, because I can't accept that a character with his set of powers and supposed moral rectitude would choose to do anything but act as a superhero full time instead of trying to plant his seed in our Earth Women and hang out at the water cooler with Perry and Jimmy.

Captain America: created in 1941Iron Man: created in 1963Thor: created in, roughly, the seventh farking centuryThe Hulk: created in 1962Hawkeye: created in 1964Black Widow: created in 1962Nick Fury: created in 1963

Wow, Millar went through a dissertation when it could be explained in one simple phrase:

BECAUSE OF WARNER BROTHERS, STUPID!

Even that whole "these were characters that were created 75 years ago" explanation doesn't wash because of shows like "Batman: The Animated Series", "Justice League" and "Justice League Unlimited" that introduced DC's iconic heroes to a whole new generation and got major plaudits because of that. Heck, "Young Justice" and "GL:TAS" have gotten some good buzz as well. Not to mention some of the DC Direct-to-DVD features that have been decent/great.

No folks, the real problem is WB sticking their hands into something they don't show jack and shiat of. Instead of letting the DC people guide the project so it can look the way it's supposed to, WB (afraid they'd lose money over a project they have little/no control over) go ahead and put their hands in it, leading to a clusterfark of movies that look more of a moneygrab than a "Hey, let's give the people what they want" feel that Marvel's been pulling off more often than not.

farbekrieg:C has done a horrid job of maintaining and marketing properties, they follow up huge amounts of goodwill created by Dini and Timm with shiatty offerings like the green lantern movie the last several superman movies, an ill advised Wonderwoman Tv show, and yanking their fans around with continuity reboots.

...and they are cancelling Young Justice and Green Lantern Animated...